A few weeks back we hit the road to find ourselves some autumn fun in the Pacific Northwest. With the help of our friends, we found it in Forest Grove, Oregon, less than an hour from Portland.

Between huge flocks of birds, a sake tour, wine tasting and a fine mist hanging o’er the hills, I’m sure as heck glad we got off the couch and headed west.

By “west,” I specifically mean west of Portland, where we were visiting our friends Jessica and Chris. Generally speaking, take 26W/NW Sunset Highway out of the city and get off at Exit 59 for Jackson School Road. All told, getting to Forest Grove should take about 35-4o minutes.

Hungry? Well, along the way, we stopped off at the delightfully old-school and clapboard South Store Cafe in nearby Scholls for beautiful cappuccinos, lattes and hearty breakfast sang-wiches. I’d highly recommend the place to get yourselves in a snug, small-town, leap-peeping frame of mind. But right in Forest Grove proper, you could also check out the ornate Ironwork Grill at McMenamin’s Grand Lodge, one of a local chain of über-cool (and undoubtedly quirky) hotel/restaurant/pub/movie theater compounds set in lovingly-restored Portland-area landmark buildings. 

We loved our visit to the Fernhill Wetland, which offered a lovely little stroll around a marsh-ful of five gabillion ducks and geese, a couple of herons and a stoic white pelican who looked almost entirely out of place. We saw fiddlehead ferns drying on the stalk, berries dripping dew, and a fleece-clad couple on the prowl with high-tech birding binoculars. We saw a fuzzy brown caterpillar that I refused to hold in my hand for longer than a second, seeing as it was that creepy kind of fuzzy. We also saw more shorebirds than we’ve ever seen in one pond at one time just burst upward in furious formation, only to land a minute later in the center of a wheaty field as though nothing happened. Absolutely amazing.

Post-wetland, we wafted about the might-be-Europe-if-you-squint grounds of Montinore Vineyards, where Fall was on full display. While we’re already fans of Willamette Valley wines, this was our first trip to the Washington County wine country; Montinore’s warm, glowy tasting room is big enough to serve a crowd, though, so clearly this region has been discovered. After tasting our way through a pinot gris and a variety of elegant pinot noirs, we bought the spicy, fruity ’07 Forest Grove Cellars Merlot ($21) and their not-too-sweet Ruby Pinot Noir Port ($25) to share with our friends. 

We then switched to sake. SakeOne is one of the few sake breweries in the U.S., and was established in Forest Grove by its Japanese parent company in order to take advantage of the area’s high-quality water. I highly recommend taking a complimentary tour here: between the murals of pants-less men, the smoothness of perfectly hulled rice and its sweet fragrance when fermenting, this is a rare experience full of humor, sanitary booties and shiny contraptions.

After our tour, we bellied up to the bar for a Saké Shock, a gorgeous little food-and-sake pairing which matches different types of the brew with spicy chili garlic peas, smoked tuna, goat cheese and more. You can take your rose-colored glasses — I’d rather see the world through pink and sparkling plum sake. (free tours are given seven days a week at either 1, 2 or 3pm; Saké Shock tastings are $10 per person)

Our entire outing took about 7 hours and was one of the best days we’d all had in a long time. Getting out into a little autumn can do wonders for the cobwebs in your head, so give it some thought:

Where do you two want to go to experience a taste of Fall?

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See also

Portland, Oregon: A (Real Live) Weekend Away

Travels With Two

A bit of the bar at Ping in Portland's Chinatown

Recently spent my (early-October) birthday up in Portland, Oregon, which is just about our favorite city in America.

We stayed with friends, went to a book fair and a radio show taping, toodled around the city, drank wine and stuffed our faces. We wore actual sweaters and jackets to ward off the autumn chill. 

And you know what? It was darn good for the mind, body and soul.

On this trip, we stayed locally with our friends Jessica and Chris. Since it’s highly unlikely that you two would also stay with them, though, I recommend the Heron Haus B & B in Nob Hill (NW), Portland’s White House B & B in Irvington (NE), McMenamin’s Kennedy School near the Alberta Arts District (NE), or the Hotel Lucia in the heart of downtown (SW).

Artwork at the Wordstock book festival; pre-Live Wire radio show taping at the Aladdin Theater

To see what was going on around town for the weekend, Jess visited the Travel Portland site and discovered that the Wordstock book festival and a special Wordstock-themed taping of Live Wire! Radio were happening on my birthday. Since I’ve lately had novel-writing on the brain, the timing felt perfect.

At the Oregon Convention Center we puttered around Wordstock exhibitors’ tables, discovering new books, publishers and funny stickers. We even nabbed a subscription to McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, America’s best-designed anthology of fiction.

Later that night, the two back-to-back tapings of Live Wire were held at the vintage 1920s Aladdin Theater, and between the clever vignettes, performances by local musicians and fascinating interviews with writers, this experience absolutely rocked. You can attend a Live Wire taping just about every two weeks, and I would give it three thumbs up if only I had a third thumb.

Sign along Broadway in Downtown; artwork for sale in a NW boutique

Earlier that day, we’d headed Downtown to explore, and did our best to keep it weird.

Collectively, all of Portland also did its best.

The over-crowded Voodoo Doughnut in Downtown Portland

The only thing that no longer seems weird there is Voodoo Doughnuts. This home-grown haunt has been written up in so many magazines and blogs, covered to death in so many travel shows, that it’s now officially been discovered by the masses. Since I’m spiritually opposed to standing in line for anything, much less a g-damn doughnut, safe to say we didn’t engage; but if you absolutely must snarf some maple bacon ale fritters during your stay, then for the love of God go visit the other Voodoo Doughnut, on the northeast side of town.

Clockwise from top L: the Downtown Stumptown and its cappuccino; the logo at Flying Cat Coffee Company; afternoon tea at Lady Di's; the lemon tart at La Petite Provence; and seasonal cupcakes at The Little T

Aside from crullers, Portland offers a many other lovely ways to mainline wheat products — and caffeine.

Hit industrial-fabulous The Little T for cupcakes and pastries, then worship at the temple of java at any of the five local Stumptown Coffee Roasters. (I have a love affair going with their Holler Mountain, and with their Hair Bender, too.) For a palate cleanser, score a latte and check out the greatest logo in town at the Flying Cat Coffee Company, who threaten to have t-shirts for sale soon.

If you have a spot of tea (and scones and finger sandwiches) in mind, head to Lake Oswego for the almost ridiculously charming Lady Di’s British Store & Tea Room and ask to be seated off by yourselves in the Tea Cozy Room (afternoon tea, $16 US per person). With any luck, it’ll be raining outside and will really feel like England inside. For a stunning breakfast nearby, visit sunny and delicious La Petite Provence, and order any gorgeous omelette on the menu with a side of potatoes, butternut squash and rosemary. Oh, and if you tell them it’s your birthday, they’ll give you a free pastry; I happily chose the truly lovely lemon tart. 

Chop in Portland's HUB Building; the NE outpost of Olympic Provisions

If you like charcuterie, you’ll feel absurdly lucky in Portland. Chop, a butcher counter located inside the HUB Building at the back corner of the splendid Tasty n Sons restaurant, is a great place to cobble together a picnic to eat over in the Rose Test Garden or up at Mt. Hood. Tasty n Sons itself makes a mean meat-and-locally-made-cheese board, as well as a stunning array of creative cocktails.

Olympic Provisions, whose NE location is spread across a sexed-up former warehouse, is absolutely serious about its meat; full of spices and a twisted sort of sausage-love, you’ll definitely want the nola and the saucisson sec, and you’ll want to pair ‘em with creamy cheese from the Northwest. I wasn’t much into the fussy cocktails here, but the full-bodied house red offered a hells-yes hit of cherry. 

Pok Pok Noi in NE Portland

If I only had a couple of meals to spend in Portland, though, I’d hit a link in the local Pok Pok chain. Inspired by the sizzle, crackle and heat of Southeast Asian street food, this is the place for chili and spice and a big ol’ stack of napkins. Try a cocktail with Kampong (Thai brandy) or a non-alcoholic and lightly sweet passionfruit drinking vinegar. Skip the too-tart papaya salad (and definitely skip the addition of tiny pieces of non-shelled blue crab), and don’t miss out on Ike’s Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings. Between the sweet and crunchy coating and the pickled carrots on the side, I could easily make this my last meal.

At the compact Pok Pok in SE you order at your table, while at Pok Pok Noi in NE, you order at one section of the restaurant, then hoof your cocktails to another and go sit down. Both offer picnic table seating and a casual vibe, while the SE location is across the street from the D-Street Noshery, a kick-ass collection of  food carts where you can make a crawl of it all.

Ping, in Portland's Chinatown

One of my favorite meals of the weekend was Chinese street snacks at Pok Pok’s latest venture, Ping. Preserving its roots as Chinatown’s former stand-by, Hung Far Low (*chuckle*), the decor is a hipster version of 1940s Chinese-America, with old posters, packing crates and antique radios. Ping has the same drinking vinegars and full bar as at Pok Pok, but the light and chewy pork bun, buttery Malaysian roti bread and tea-stained egg are a delicious trip to a very different part of Asia.

Or Portland, as the case may be.

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See related posts
Portland’s Westside, Part 1 – The Pearl District
Portland’s Westside, Part 2 – Downtown
Portland’s Westside, Part 3 – Chinatown & Old Town
Portland’s Westside, Part 4 – Northwest & Nob Hill
Portland’s Westside, Part 5 – Washington Park
Portland’s Northeast Side
Portland’s Southeast Side
Portland On Our Minds
Falling Into the North Willamette Valley
By the Seaside…Oregon
TWT Travel Binder: Oregon

Travels With Two

Photo by Roadsidepictures

The popular travel blog TripBase has started a tag-you’re-it game across the travel blogosphere.

The goal is to collect an amazing list of across-the-globe travel secrets from as many travel bloggers as humanly possible.  Someday soon, this list will be a Creative Commons roundup that I’ll be sure to share with you!

For now, I’ve been tagged by two of my favorite travel bloggers, Sheila of GoVisitHawaii and Isabelle of Isabelle’s Travel Guide to contribute my own best kept travel secrets.

So, here we go:

1.  Attend a charity fundraiser, sign up for the travel raffle, and be creative.

For years we’ve attended the summer food-and-wine fundraiser for a wonderful organization, the Los Angeles Free Clinic.  (We think it’s a great idea to provide free – or at least affordable – health care to the working poor.)  Their summer fundraiser, a literal extravaganza of food and wine excess, generally costs about $150 for both of us.

One year, I saw that the big raffle prize was a trip to Paris (Air France flights and a stay at the Four Seasons Hotel George V) and decided to enter us into the big prize raffle for an additional $100, paying by credit card via fax.

I took a few extra minutes to doodle all over said fax page, scribbling cartoon renderings of Parisian monuments on every bit of white space.  I also wrote “Oooh la la!” and “Oui, sil vous plait!” and, well, there was more, but you get it — I’m a dork.  My reasoning was this:  Whomever was on the other side of that fax machine was sitting in a busy, humorless office piled high with pieces of white paper.  And who doesn’t love a little funny in their day?

Flash forward several weeks, and we were declared the winners!  For $250, we had just nabbed that warm feeling you get from doing good, a fabulous horde of treats and the means to a kick-ass vacation (that I’ll be writing more about very soon).

Surely there’s an organization in your town that you admire?  Do a little web research, make a call, see what events are out there.  Many organizations know their raffle prizes ahead of time and will happily tell you, to stoke your interest.

Who knows how far this could take you?

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2. There lies a sea of flowers in northwest Oregon.

We’re big fans of gardens, and found one of our favorites in sleepy little Canby, Oregon, 8 miles from Portland. From August 1st -September  30th each year, the 40-acre flower farm at Swan Island Dahlias explodes with pom poms, dinner plates, collarettes and more.  Bring along a picnic, stroll the rows hand in hand, even order tubers for your own perfect dahlia garden.

Dahlias will grow just about anywhere you find 8 hours of daily sunlight in summer, but if your area freezes in the winter, you have to dig up the tubers and replant them in spring.  Sound like too much work?  All the better reason to come here and revel, labor-free, in a seriously romantic profusion of blooms.

Travels With Two

Domaine Serene, in early October

A simple search of the Travels With Two archives will tell you how much we love Portland, Oregon.  But, truly, we also sing the wine country praises of the nearby North Willamette Valley.

Of course, the singing usually comes an hour into tasting pinot noirs…

To get a feel for the North Willamette (pronounced WillAMette), click here for an interactive map.  The map doesn’t print very well, so I’d highly recommend contacting the vintner’s association to request a free copy.

To get to the wine country from Portland, we’d recommend two routes:

• For the most direct, take the 99W straight out of town for about 50 minutes.
• For the most leisurely, at 1 hour and 10 minutes, take the 26W to the Glencoe Road/219 exit, and head south into Newberg.  On this route you’ll see small towns and lots of farms.

Longhorn cattle on the way to WillaKenzie Estate

We’ve been twice to this agricultural heartland of Oregon, once on an August weekend, and again last October;  we’d agree that while summer is full of flowers, Fall is an even better time to go.  It’s a little sunny, a little cloudy, a little chilly, and sometimes, a little warm.  Furry cows graze in fields bordered by last-of-the-season blackberries and tangles of grapevines.  The nostalgic smell of burning leaves wafts on the breeze, and apples fall faster from the orchard trees than anyone can catch them.

Imagine, if you will, driving through a great big pie.

Both times we’ve journeyed here, we’ve made a day trip of it from Portland, leaving town by 10am and heading back by 5pm.

Once you’ve arrived, we’d recommend having an early lunch at the casually elegant Dundee Bistro.

Note that wine tasting rooms in the North Willamette Valley stay steadily open throughout the Fall, generally closing only for Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve/Day, and New Years.

To taste area wines, visit:

August Cellars

August Cellars: This architecturally eco-friendly space belongs to family farmers and offer mostly pinot noirs and riesling through their own label, as well as wines from a few area micro-wineries like Toluca Lane, Laura Volkman, and Et Fille.

Argyle: In a tasting room set in a renovated Victorian house, indulge in classic Oregon pinots and the surprise of sparkling pinot noir blends.  Argyle’s beloved tasting room kitty, Snowball, has died since our visit last year, and a special flight dedicated in his honor benefits area cat adoption efforts.

Sokol Blosser: Their beautiful tasting room is set up on a hill amongst heavy old trees, and their lovely wines never disappoint

Domaine Drouhin: Yes, it costs $10 to taste a mere 4 wines here, but half the experience is the stunning tasting room and the best view of the NWV we’ve yet seen.  The sister winery to Burgundy’s exquisite Joseph Drouhin, DD’s French-style wines are generally dry, sophisticated, complex and more often than not, a bit too dear for our wallets.  C’est la vie…take a seat on the side porch and the

Just one view from Domaine Drouhin

pain will ease.

Domaine Serene: Possibly even more elegant a tasting room than Drouhin, this dreamy place is literally a castle (see the first photo above).  It borders on a bit too touristy: The parking lot can accommodate buses and you can book a $40 VIP tasting tour, tell-tale signs of corporate vino-pimping.  However, with 6 different versions of pinot noir on offer, this is a good place to see the range of the NWV’s terroir.

Archery Summit: For your steep drive uphill to the parking lot, you’ll be rewarded with the second-best view of the NWV.  The vibe here isn’t super friendly, but their vineyard/caves/bottling room tour is a relative bargain at $25, and they generally offer a staggering 10 takes on pinot noir…as it’s all they do up here.

The old grain mill in Carlton

Carlton Winemakers Studio: To be honest, we didn’t love any of the wines here, but we give this collective of ten vintners props for fantastic architecture, an ethos of sustainable farming, and a peaceful setting.

WillaKenzie Estate: Gorgeous area, fantastic longhorn cattle, but a madhouse; come here for a rest on the patio, and if you can manage to get your hands on some wine, all the better…but highly unnecessary.

If you’d rather not drive an hour home after a day of tooling around and tasting, it’s safe to say that staying out here would be dreamy. Vintners we’ve met in the area recommend three places to stay, but you can always check them out for yourself on TripAdvisor:

Black Walnut Inn
Abbey Road Farm B & B
McMenamin’s Hotel Oregon

**If by now I’ve swayed you both to visit this Fall, keep the following in mind:

Travels With Two

Mural detail at the Kennedy School

Portland, Oregon’s northeast has a certain scruffy elegance.

We split our 2006 Portland visit between two different lodgings in this part of town, and it’s so residential that you can’t help but feel at home here. Visit a farmer’s market, walk to a casual restaurant, go see a movie…y’know, all the stuff you’d do in your own neighborhood if you only had the time.

To get a taste of tony Irvington, we stayed in the historic mansion known as Portland’s White House. This 1911 Greek Revival and antique-filled B & B on NE 22nd Avenue has sweet little rooms with four-poster beds and garden views, and drop-dead killer breakfasts where you eat family style at a long dining room table.

Walk out the front door and you can ogle your way around Irvington’s period houses, or there’s the NE Broadway business district two blocks away. We were lucky enough to stumble into Thai Pod for some really good, fresh Thai food.

Just east of Irvington is nineteen-acre Grant Park, famous for two things: memorializing Ulysses S. Grant’s three visits to Portland and the Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden, featuring bronze statues of characters of children’s author (and Portland native) Beverly Cleary. The life-size Ramona is very cool, in a way that says, “Hey, maybe sixth grade wasn’t so bad.”

Which is pretty much the whole point behind McMenamin’s Kennedy School. A quirky hotel set in a former elementary school, this is one of the most fascinating and fun places we’ve ever stayed. Local artists have covered almost every wall with murals that evoke both fantasy and historical Kennedy School photos.

The rooms aren’t renowned for comfy beds, but instead for details like chalkboards and closet cubbies. There’s a mosaic-tiled pool (if it’s ever warm enough in Portland to swim), and in the school’s former cafeteria, a cafe that serves almost everything you could want (we wanted hummus and Greek salads, and lo, there they were on the menu).

In the former auditorium, you can watch second-run movies on cozy couches while drinking Oregonian wine and eating food from the cafe. You can come to the Kennedy School’s theater even if you’re not a hotel guest, it just costs a little more.  In our (2006) case, we rolled right from our room in comfy pants to stretch out and see a double feature of Thank You for Not Smoking and The Break-Up.

Not far from the Kennedy School, the Alberta Arts District is pulling itself up from working class grit towards a corrugated steel charm. This isn’t the loveliest part of town (*understatement alert*) but there’s beauty to be found in galleries like Talisman and Guardino.  If you can wrangle it in your travel schedule, known that the District has an open house every last Thursday of the month from 5:30-9pm.

While you’re over here, have breakfast or lunch at The Tin Shed (which has really friendly service) or Vita Cafe (which has beautiful vegetarian food).

If you’re up early on a Saturday, wander over to the Hollywood Farmer’s Market (east of Grant Park on NE Hancock between NE 44th & 45th Avenues) to live like a Portland locavore.

The Hollywood District has two other cool things to visit: the 1926 Hollywood Theatre, which serves as both an screening space and film education center, and even more fun for any Angeleno, Hollywood Bowl. The latter never hosts The Who in concert but always has…bowling.

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See related posts
Portland’s Westside, Part 1 – The Pearl District
Portland’s Westside, Part 2 – Downtown
Portland’s Westside, Part 3 – Chinatown & Old Town
Portland’s Westside, Part 4 – Northwest & Nob Hill
Portland’s Westside, Part 5 – Washington Park
Portland’s Southeast Side
Portland On Our Minds
Falling Into the North Willamette Valley
By the Seaside…Oregon
TWT Travel Binder: Oregon

Travels With Two

View of Mt. Hood from Mt. Tabor Park

Portland’s Eastside is residentially entrenched but commercially emerging, making it seem on the surface less than tourist-friendly…but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check it out.  We’ve had a lot of great Eastside adventures, and some of Portland’s best experiences can be found in the southeast. To get to the Eastside, you have to cross the Willamette (will-AM-met) River at the Burnside Bridge on the edge of Old Town.  For more details, take a look at this map of the Portland metro area. Once across, it’s hard to tell if the funk and shabbiness of Old Town has trickled across the river, or if it’s the other way around.  

There are in fact some lovely, tree-lined historic Eastside neighborhoods, very cool places to stay, and wonderful restaurants, but the greater impression is of gray buildings, scruffy grass, and poorly-tended commercial monotony. You have to look for the gold here — and it’s very good gold —  so let me help you out.

The neighborhood closest to the river, Buckman, has always been railroad/warehouse central and has only started to bloom in the past few years.

Snarky cards at Grendel's Coffee House

Buckman’s main commercial area, on and around Burnside between NE Grand and NE 12th, is called the Central Eastside Arts District. The first Friday of every month, the artist studios and galleries here stay open late, as do the vintage shops and one of the greatest art-jewelry-accessories stores ever, Redux. (The resident mascot is a rescued greyhound named Max, who tugged at my heart; while I snuggled the dog, Adam picked up cufflinks made from old typewriter keys.)

Whether you’re here for First Fridays or not, pop into Grendel’s Coffee House for a spicy Mexican cocoa and a shuffle through the snarky handmade greeting cards for sale.

Buckman is Portland’s version of LA’s Silverlake, so expect to see lots of quirkily-attired late twenty-somethings on the verge of affluence.  If you’re keen to surround yourself with these hipsters day and night, book a room at the Jetson’s-meets-irony Jupiter Hotel or at the very least hear an indie show (by an artist you didn’t know existed) in its restaurant/club Doug Fir.

If you’re hungry, know that we’ve found some great locally-sourced restaurants here:

The dining room at clarklewis

The surprisingly warm and glowing clarklewis, where we had dinner our first night in town last weekend. A former warehouse this close to the river, it could easily have been rambling and cold, but a friendly stack of cut firewood by the front door says otherwise. Hands down, this place has the best salads we’ve ever had – fig and arugula with walnut oil, as well as roasted beets with honeycrisp apples and blue cheese — and a fantastic collection of Oregonian wines.

Noble Rot, where in 2006, we celebrated our 7th anniversary.  Every now and then I think of holding Adam’s hands across the cozy candlelit table in this refurbished wine cellar, feeding each other a delicious onion tart, and sharing possibly the best-ever exploitation of sugar, an entire flight of dessert wines.

At the newer and more esoteric Le Pigeon, a read-through of the menu didn’t float our boats — it’s heavy on pork, lamb, and eel, none of which we eat — but Food & Wine called the chef, Gabriel Rucker, one of the country’s best in 2007.  Go figure.

While in the southeast (click on the Inner SE portion of the map to see each neighborhood), it’s also fun to:

Take a spin through Ladd’s Addition, just south of the Buckman area between Hawthorne and Division, to see some of Portland’s oldest homes and most elegant gardens

Visit Laurelhurst, north of Burnside and east of SE 33rd Avenue, to see cute 19-0-something Craftsman houses and shady trees

Head to the Hawthorne area (south of Hawthorne at SE 39th Avenue) to see a second-run movie and have a pub meal at the historic Bagdad Theater, yet another notch in (local powerhouse) McMenamin’s belt

Continue south to SE 28th Avenue & Woodstock to visit Eastmoreland and see the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Gardens; the thousands of rhododendrons and azaleas here are in their fullest bloom between April and June

Head east to the woodsy Mt. Tabor neighborhood and its namesake, Mt. Tabor Park, at SE 60th & Salmon Street, for forested walking paths and incredible hillside views of Mt. Hood 

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See related posts
Portland’s Northeast Side
Portland’s Westside, Part 1 – The Pearl District
Portland’s Westside, Part 2 – Downtown
Portland’s Westside, Part 3 – Chinatown & Old Town Portland’s Westside, Part 4 – Northwest & Nob Hill
Portland’s Westside, Part 5 – Washington Park Portland On Our Minds
Falling Into the North Willamette Valley
By the Seaside…Oregon
TWT Travel Binder: Oregon

Travels With Two

When we’re done with Portland‘s commerce (for a while), we like to head up to the beauty of the SW quadrant’s Washington Park.  It’s full of flowers, animals and, in our dreams, a sweet little cottage for two.

Set into said forest, it’s $100, 000 less than our L.A. house (might still be worth) and 1500 square feet larger, a sweet Craftsman built in 1919.   There’s a little porch upstairs, just big enough for two lounge chairs and a view of the trees.  There’s a woodsy walking trail one block away, perfect for running Toby the Corgi.  Joey Cat could sit indoors and chat to birds all day (when he’s not sleeping).  The molding-trimmed dining room says “Hello, Thanksgiving.”  The wood floors gleam.  After ten minutes of sitting out front, we’d already decided that the concrete front porch could be improved with some hand-painted tiles and planters, and the front garden needed some hydrangeas.

Clearly, we don’t believe you can take a fantasy too far.  Sigh.

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See related posts

Portland’s Westside, Part 1 – The Pearl District
Portland’s Westside, Part 2 – Downtown
Portland’s Westside, Part 3 – Chinatown & Old Town
Portland’s Westside, Part 4 – Northwest & Nob Hill
Portland’s Southeast Side
Portland’s Northeast Side
Portland On Our Minds
Falling Into the North Willamette Valley
By the Seaside…Oregon
TWT Travel Binder: Oregon

Travels With Two

Continued from
Portland’s Westside, Part 3 – Chinatown & Old Town

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The end of the driveway at Heron Haus B & B

The original source of our crush on Portland can be attributed to the NW quadrant of the city.

Before we saw the Hood River, or Mt. Hood, or the farmland of the wine country, we stepped out of our car onto NW 23rd Avenue and it was all over.  Our little yuppie hearts sang with joy.

Fluffy trees strung with winking lights.  Unique (well, mostly) shops and restaurants housed in tidy brick buildings and Craftsman houses with second-story, whitewashed porches.  Historic homes with lush gardens.  And all surrounded by one of America’s greatest public parks.

Seriously, people — it’s like the city-fantasy trifecta.

Nob Hill, one of the most affluent neighborhoods in Portland, is also known as the Alphabet District.  From Burnside up, you’ve got Couch, Davis (one of the fathers of Portland Cement), and so on.  This makes getting around easy, and also serves as a Portland history lesson.  NW Hoyt (as well as the Hoyt Arboretum), for instance, was named for Ralph Warren Hoyt, Portland’s most famous/notorious County Commissioner.

Nob Hill's Heron Haus B & B

Here you’ll find some of Portland’s most elegant historical architecture, like the homes of the city’s founding fathers and the neo-Byzantine Temple Beth Israel,  a 150 year-old Reform temple on NW Flanders.

After staying downtown and on the Eastside (more on that soon), this time we wanted to play at living in Nob Hill.  So, we chose to stay at Heron Haus B & B, a huge, vine-covered 1904 home that was renovated in the mid-80s.  Tripadvisor’s recommendations about it had been kind of spotty, largely due to the acidic owner; even after experiencing her on the phone (not a good time) we decided to brave it anyway, for the neighborhood.

Upon our arrival, we were relieved to find that ding-dong, the witch was gone:  The property had been purchased three weeks earlier by a pleasant, bespectacled sixty-something woman named Pam, who took pride in her culinary education.  Our third floor room, the Mahaina, was huge, with a living room area, fireplace, double sinks and a great big bed.   The city views were spectacular.  Sunday breakfast (Saturday we ate at The Heathman downtown) was a delicious square of homemade quiche.

However, if this is your first visit to Portland, be warned that Pam doesn’t know her way around Portland at all.  She can be of little help to you with directions or recommendations, so…keep my posts and map links handy.

View from the bar at 23 Hoyt

Down the street on NW 23rd Avenue, you’ll find:

• 23 Hoyt (pictured here), a swanky joint that’s attracted a string of locally-famous chefs, and makes delicate cocktails with local spirits like Aviator Gin
• Moonstruck Chocolate Cafe (526 NW 23rd Avenue), part of a small chain known for adorable and holiday-specific sculptural renderings in chocolate, marzipan, and more
• Jo Bar & Rotisserie and Papa Haydn, a pair of connected restaurants — the former is more of a low-lit bar and bistro scene, while the latter is more of an airy, Austrian-themed affair.
• Bellini’s Spa – if you need a massage with your vacation, be sure to ask for Chris
• BeWon Korean Restaurant, a pretty, elegant room with soothing colors that smells like a spicy version of heaven — we flipped for the bulgogi (a stir-fried beef dish big enough for two) that comes with 9 traditional condiments, and for  the sweet potato glass noodles
• For dessert, try Alotto Gelato, practically next door
• Just about every doodad and bauble at 3 Monkeys is affordable.  Have fun trying on everything, and move carefully in this overstuffed space

Still NW 23rd Street...because I like this photo

Two blocks over on NW 21st Avenue, it’s all about food and drink. Check out:

• Besaw’s, a local favorite, there’s a wait for every meal
• Blue Moon, a lavishly painted cog in the local power wheel, McMenamin’s — a great place to try local beers
• City Market, which, with Zupan’s up on Burnside at 23rd, would be our local, fancy-pants grocery source
• Wildwood, where everything in the place is sourced from the Pacific Northwest

Just lately, a micro business-district has cropped up at NW 24th Avenue & Thurman.

As advertised, the Dragonfly Coffee House

On Thurman, be sure to visit cozy and lovely Dragonfly Coffee House, which not only has great coffee with nary a trace of bitterness, but is also decorated with wine-colored walls and glass dragonflies.  Outside you’ll see cute dogs and serious bikers, and inside, political debates fly (albeit politely).

Oxalis, a gift and garden store

Around the corner on 24th, pop into Oxalis, a garden, jewelry, clothing, and book store set in a blue-gray Craftsman house and open every day from 10 to 6.

Owned by bubbly Portland native Leslie Bressler and her daughter Holly, Oxalis is the place to come to find out what grows best in Portland, which local political officials have had the most positive influence at home and around the country, and all about the value of doing something kind for others. You’ll find a smile, a perfect necklace, and colorful, handmade scarves and hats.

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Continued in
Portland’s Westside, Part 5 – Washington Park

See related posts
Portland’s Westside, Part 1 – The Pearl District
Portland’s Westside, Part 2 – Downtown
Portland’s Southeast Side
Portland’s Northeast Side
Portland On Our Minds
Falling Into the North Willamette Valley
By the Seaside…Oregon
TWT Travel Binder: Oregon

Travels With Two